The Ministerial Council On HIV/AIDS

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Annual Report April 1, 2004 - March 31, 2005

Appendix 2: Members of the Ministerial Council on HIV/AIDS

CO-CHAIRS 

Louise Binder

Louise Binder, a retired lawyer, is Chair of the Canadian Treatment Advocates Council, Chair of Voices of Positive Women and a member of the board of the Wellesley Central Health Corporation. She is a member of the University of Toronto 's HIV/AIDS Ethics Review Committee, the Canadian Trials Network Community Advisory Board, the Ontario HIV Treatment Network Treatment Committee and a former board member of the HIV/AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario. Ms. Binder was the recipient of the YWCA of Metropolitan Toronto's 1999 Women of Distinction award for social action and of the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal for volunteerism in 2002. Ms. Binder received an honorary Doctorate of Laws from Queens University in October 2001.

Lindy Samson

Dr. Lindy Samson is a pediatric infectious disease specialist and HIV physician at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) and Assistant Professor at the University of Ottawa. She is Director of the CHEO HIV clinic and is a strong advocate for mothers and children dealing with HIV infection. Dr. Samson has participated in studies and programs that have led to the early recognition of HIV in pregnancy and the peripartum management of HIV to prevent infection of children. She is Chair of the Canadian Pediatric AIDS Research Group.

MEMBERS

Mary Armstrong

Mary Armstrong has been a counsellor at Nine Circles Community Health Centre (formerly Village Clinic) in Winnipeg since 1997. She works directly with infected and affected people as they deal with the emotional and mental health issues connected to living with HIV/AIDS. Ms. Armstrong is a clinical member of the Manitoba Branch of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and has a Master's degree in Marriage and Family Therapy.

Margaret Dykeman (term ended in 2004)

Dr. Margaret Dykeman has been working in HIV/AIDS in various capacities for more than 10 years as a nurse practitioner, researcher, community representative and advocate. She is an Associate Professor in the University of New Brunswick's Faculty of Nursing. Dr. Dykeman is President of AIDS New Brunswick, the provincial HIV/AIDS organization. She has broad experience and knowledge of the injection drug user population which is one of the most vulnerable to HIV infection.

Richard Elliott

Richard Elliott, a lawyer formerly in private practice, is Director, Legal Research and Policy, for the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. The Legal Network is a national, non-governmental organization (NGO) undertaking research, education and advocacy on HIV/AIDS and human rights issues within Canada and internationally. The Legal Network is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. Mr. Elliott has written many reports, papers and articles on legal and human rights issues relating to HIV/AIDS and has delivered numerous presentations to community groups and national and international conferences. He has been active with a variety of community organizations addressing HIV and human rights issues and helped found the Global Treatment Action Group, a working group of Canadian civil society organizations engaged in collaborative advocacy to realize the human right to health. Mr. Elliott served as rapporteur for the Third International Consultation on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights in relation to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.

Dionne A. Falconer

Dionne A. Falconer has extensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS issues through her involvement with community-based AIDS service organizations since the late 1980s. She is Managing Director of her own consulting firm in Toronto, DA Falconer & Associates, and works nationally and internationally on HIV/AIDS, health and social issues. Her previous staff positions include Clinical Director of Lawrence Heights Community Health Centre, Interim Executive Director of Access Alliance Multicultural Community Health Centre and Executive Director of the Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention (Black CAP). Ms. Falconer has many years of active community service and is Past President of the Board of Directors for the Interagency Coalition on AIDS and Development. She is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Ontario AIDS Network and the Canadian AIDS Society. Ms. Falconer holds a Master of Health Science degree in Health Administration.

Deborah Foster

Deborah Foster is a Registered Social Worker and a doctoral student in the Department of Human Ecology at the University of Alberta. She began working and volunteering in the field of HIV/AIDS in 1986 while living in Guelph and Toronto and currently resides in Edmonton, Alberta. Since 1986, Ms. Foster has held a variety of positions related to HIV/AIDS in both the non-profit sector and government. She is currently a member of the Advisory Committee for the HIV/AIDS Stigma Research Project. Ms. Foster has spoken at numerous conferences across Canada and has been a guest lecturer in university and college classes on HIV/AIDS issues. She currently divides her time between teaching and research activities at University of Alberta and Athabasca University.

Jacqueline Gahagan

Jacqueline C. Gahagan, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the School of Health and Human Performance of Dalhousie University. She holds cross appointments in Community Health and Epidemiology, Women's Studies, and Nursing at Dalhousie University. Dr. Gahagan is a Research Associate at the Atlantic Centre of Excellence for Women's Health where she leads the development of the research arm of the proposed International Institute on Gender-Mainstreaming and HIV/AIDS. She serves as a Commissioner on the Nova Scotia Advisory Commission on HIV/AIDS and was a member of the National Reference Group on Women and HIV/AIDS. Dr. Gahagan has extensive research experience in the field of HIV and gender. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in program planning, measurement and evaluation and community health promotion strategies. Her current research studies include: HIV and Hepatitis C prevention, care, treatment and support needs of women in federal prisons; HIV prevention education needs of young heterosexual males; and the impact of unpaid caregiving on women's health.

Michael Grant

Dr. Michael Grant has been involved in the basic science of HIV/AIDS research since 1987. He trained in Vancouver and Hamilton and is now an Associate Professor of Immunology in the Faculty of Medicine of Memorial University of Newfoundland. Dr. Grant has been a member of the Canadian Association of HIV Research since its inception and was a National Health AIDS Scholar from 1996-2002. He holds grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research for HIV and Hepatitis C (HCV) research and is a Canada Foundation for Innovation Researcher.

Marie Anésie Harérimana

Marie Anésie Harérimana is Executive Director of the Centre de resources et d'interventions en santé et sexualité (CRISS), a Montreal community agency whose primary mission is to provide support to women living with HIV/AIDS and their loved ones. She is an important spokesperson on the problems of countries where HIV is endemic, and especially the problems of African communities and women in Quebec. Ms. Harérimana coordinates the publication by CRISS of the Quebec newsletter De tête et de coeur. In 2002 her contributions were recognized by her peers when she received a Fahra Foundation Hero award, which is presented to individuals for their outstanding service in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Quebec.

Brian Huskins

Brian Huskins has extensive knowledge across the spectrum of HIV/AIDS issues based on 14 years of community HIV/AIDS work. As Chair of the Board of Directors of the Canadian AIDS Society in the mid-1990s, he was instrumental in establishing the broad framework of the Canadian Strategy on HIV/AIDS with other national leaders. He has served as Chair of the Consumer Advisory Committee of the new Canadian Blood Services and has brought the consumer voice to many tables where a variety of healthcare issues have been discussed. Mr. Huskins has written extensively about HIV/AIDS and health issues for various publications and has two published works, Sexual Identity: The Journey Begins and Breaking the Skin: Tattooing and Body Piercing - Know the Risks, which are tools used widely by HIV/AIDS prevention workers.

In 2000, Mr. Huskins was one of 25 Calgarians chosen to participate in the inaugural course of Leadership Calgary, a unique action study and community-focused program designed to identify and motivate aspiring leaders in Calgary. He became the first openly HIV-positive candidate to run for public office in Canada when he was a candidate representing the Liberal Party in the 2001 Alberta provincial election. Mr. Huskins is the Outreach and Partnership Coordinator at the Toronto-based Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange (CATIE). CATIE is a national, non-profit organization committed to improving the health and quality of life of all Canadians living with HIV/AIDS.

René Lavoie (term ended in 2004)

René Lavoie is the coordinator of the Réseau Sida/maladies infectieuses du Fonds de recherche en santé du Québec. He is former Executive Director of Séro-Zéro, a community-based HIV/AIDS prevention organization for gay men in Montreal. He is a co-researcher for the Omega Study and participates in other research on gay men. Mr. Lavoie is a long-time gay activist and founder of a number of programs for gay men. He was a member of the National Reference Group on Gay Men.

Enrico Mandarino

Mr. Mandarino has been working and volunteering in all areas of HIV/AIDS for over 15 years. His background in research microbiology gives him a strong scientific knowledge of HIV/AIDS including infection, therapies and research. Mr. Mandarino has extensive front-line experience working with people living with HIV/AIDS and volunteers with many community-based, provincial and national AIDS service organizations. He currently serves as Secretary of the board of directors of the Canadian AIDS Society, as a board member of the Canadian Treatment Action Council and as an apprentice on the Community Advisory Committee of the Canadian HIV Clinical Trials Network. In 2005, Mr. Mandarino was appointed to the Ontario Advisory Committee on HIV/AIDS where he continues to be a strong advocate for emerging issues related to HIV /AIDS.

Ken Monteith

Ken Monteith is the Executive Director of AIDS Community Care Montréal/Sida bénévoles Montréal (ACCM). Trained as a lawyer, he worked in the community youth sector as Legal Coordinator and Executive Director of Head & Hands/À deux mains for nine years before joining ACCM in 1999. Mr. Monteith is a member of the board of the Coalition des organismes communautaires québécois de lutte contre le sida (COCQ-Sida) and is the Coalition's representation on the Canadian Treatment Action Council. He holds degrees in Industrial relations, Common and Civil Law from McGill University and was a member of the Québec Bar from 1991-2001, when he resigned to devote himself more fully to his community work in HIV/AIDS.

David M. Nelson

David Mervyn Nelson is a Cree/Icelandic man from Alberta. He has been involved in HIV/AIDS since the early 1980s and graduated from Grant MacEwan Community College with a Social Worker Diploma in 1990. He has been providing professional and volunteer services to those who live with HIV/AIDS since then. During his career he has had the opportunity to travel across North America working mainly with First Nations/Aboriginal Communities to develop and deliver HIV prevention programs and support services to those living with HIV/AIDS. Mr. Nelson has been a member of a number of decision making bodies in the United States including: the New Mexico Community Planning Group for Regions 5 and 7; The Governors AIDS Task Force; Nation advisory on GLBT Committee; the National Rural HIV Advisory Committee; and the Advisory Board to the Office of Minority Health Resource Center.

Mr. Nelson works with the AIDS Calgary Awareness Association in Calgary, Alberta and continues to be an advocate. He travels to First Nations communities and programs across the country providing education and consulting services on HIV/AIDS issues. In 1996 he was infected with HIV and has since developed a deeper understanding of the issues that surround this disease based on his first-hand experience.

Anita Rachlis

Dr. Anita Rachlis is a Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease, University of Toronto. She has worked in HIV/AIDS care since 1983 at Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre and has been involved in clinical research in the treatment of opportunistic infections and antiretroviral therapy. Dr. Rachlis received a Council Award in 2002 from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario for her work in the care and treatment of people living with HIV/AIDS. She facilitated the development of the Canadian HIV Primary Care Mentorship Program and the Ontario HIV Observational Database (HOOD). Dr. Rachlis is a member of the board of the Ontario HIV Treatment Network, is Associate Director for the Ontario Region of the Canadian HIV Trials Network and serves as a scientific reviewer for granting agencies. She is a member of the Ontario Advisory Committee on HIV/AIDS. Dr. Rachlis is Clerkship Director of the Undergraduate Medical Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto.

Sheena Sargeant

Sheena Sargeant is Executive Director of YouthCO AIDS Society in Vancouver. She has an extensive background in community-based HIV/AIDS work in the areas of women and youth. In addition to her previous work as Communications Coordinator at the Vancouver-based Positive Women's Network, she spent more than four years at YouthCO AIDS Society working directly with youth to develop HIV/AIDS prevention education programming at the local, regional and international level. Ms. Sargeant served consecutive appointments as Member and Co-Chair of the British Columbia Ministry of Health Planning's HIV/AIDS Advisory Committee in 2000-2001.

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